A Jizhou 'Tortoiseshell'-glazed Bowl. Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2012

The bowl has conical sides rising from the knife-pared foot to the finger-grooved rim, and is covered inside and out with a dark brown glaze liberally splashed with a translucent yellow-brown glaze in imitation of mottled tortoiseshell, the glaze stopping just short of the foot to expose the light grey stoneware. 4 5/8 in. (11.7 cm.) diam. Estimate $6,000 - $8,000

南宋 吉州窰玳瑁釉盞

Provenance: Spink & Son Ltd., London, before 1990. 

Notes: The 'tortoiseshell' glaze was another innovation of the potters at the Jizhou kilns in Jiangxi province during the Song dynasty. Known as 'tortoiseshell' glaze, its name was derived supposedly from its similarity to the shell of a warm-water sea turtle known as the hawksbill. For a discussion of these kilns, and this type of glaze, see R. Mowry, Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers, Cambridge, 1996, pp. 225-28. Compare, also, the similar, but larger (16 cm.) bowl, sold in these rooms, 16 September 2010, lot 1309. 

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Part II, 13 September 2012. New York, Rockefeller Plaza